Chapter 4:

The next day's Ria watched over Eli like a hawk, so these incidents would not occur again. She was so thankful that she could relieve her stress from work and now Eli at home. Karl was a good listener and he made her feel better. She enjoyed his presence and had all in all comfortable feeling around him. Sometimes the stress was so big, she started to cry. She still had the suspicions, that she had a virus because she had to puke the more often, especially when she smelled food.

At work she had a hard time, she seemed really emotional and she had to suppress those emotions, so nobody would get suspicious. She was out with Loker on their newest case. They were sent to investigate on Farida Mugisha. They questioned her about her experiences and Ria could not overlook the looks Mugisha was giving Eli. She started to burn from the inside, she had the feeling she could yell, cry and yank her hair out all at once. But she kept her poker face professionally, so neither Mugisha nor Eli bothered Ria and continued flirting. Ria was dating Dupree, so Eli would be able to flirt with a woman.

As they were in the car he opened up Mugishas book and read the autograph out loud: "Dear Eli, thanks for your support and that wonderful conversation. Here's my number if you want to talk again." Eli smirked at himself at his luck. He started to forget Ria and the pain he has been feeling since Dupree was there.

The whole drive Eli talked about Farida Mugisha and just hoped to be back at the Lightman Group.

After they parked the car they went back to the research room to discuss this case but Ria was already annoyed by Loker's fascination for Farida Mugischa. She wanted to take a coffee break before continuing to calm herself down.

If she would hear the name Farida Mugisha again in the next hour, someone would get hurt. As she finished her thought Eli said " Farida is such a strong woman. What she has been through. And still she is like the goddess of elegance and beauty." That did it for Ria.

She took her fist and boxed Eli, who was standing next to her, in the ribcage. "Ow, what was that for?" He asked rubbing the spot the fist collided with his body.

"You totally have a thing for her and overlooked all the signs of lies!" Ria half shouted at Eli. He was at loss of words and just stayed still. "Don't you want to say something?" Tears pooled in her eyes. Why did it anger her so much? Eli cleared his throat and said "Well, if you insist. Yes I feel attracted to Farida, but I still am doing my job. So you have no right shouting at me. "He started to raise his voice a little at the end of the sentence, but still stayed calm. He was confused why Ria was taking the whole thing so personally. She has Dupree, why shouldn't he have a girl? Ria took a step back "You are right. Sorry." She could no longer hold the tears so she quickly turned on the spot and ran out of the research room, heading to the restrooms to lock herself in a stall. As she turned the corner she ran into Lightman. She was sent falling on her butt, by the impact. As she did not stand up immediately and shouted, as a normal Ria would have done, she sat there. Her shoulder slumped, her head bowed. She slowly got up whispered an apology and took off again. Gillian looked at Cal and said "Something is not alright with Torres. I'll go check on her." Cal just shrugged, keeping his distance from the "issues" woman had once in a while. As he looked up he saw Eli as he was walking down the hall. "Dr. Lightman, did you see Ria walk by?"

Lightman looked up to his young employee and just gestured to the restrooms. Eli nodded and went along. He stood in front of the woman restroom, arguing with himself if he should go in and check on her or just leave her some space. He decided for the first but as he poked his head into the white tiled room he saw Foster standing in front a stall. Gillian looked up at who would come inside and saw Loker's head. She mouthed an out and his head disappeared. He took steps back and slumped against the wall. He slowly let him down to a sitting position and asked himself "Where that sobs? Did Ria really cry over me?" Eli had a really bad conscience.

Inside, Gillian was trying to get Ria to come out of the stall, but there was no coming through the young woman.

"I'm sorry Dr. Foster. I don't know what is wrong with me. Crying like this. I feel like an idiot." Ria said in between sobs. "Torres, why don't you come out and we talk in my office? It is far more comfortable than here." Gillian tried to sound reasonable. After some time, Ria turned the lock on the stall and came outside. She had puffy red eyes and her makeup ran down her face. Foster gave her a tissue to clean herself up and told her she would wait outside. She could take her time to come, if she still needed a moment alone.

Outside she saw Loker sitting on the floor. He looked up and as he saw Foster he stood up and wanted to ask her how Ria was doing. Gillian did not let him say anything but instructed him "Loker, please go to the research room. I think Torres would like some space and I don't think it is such a good idea to pressure her right in front of the restroom." Eli looked ashamed at the floor and nodded. He slowly walked to the research room, where he will be waiting until somebody would tell him what in the world was going on.

AN: Sorry if the chapter are a bit short. I always try to find a good part to end the chapter without killing the flow but keeping the suspense curve

AND I was very happy about the reviews I have gotten so far. Thank you very much and thank you all who have put my story on favorite or alert. So please keep reading and reviewing. I am also open for criticism so I can do a better job in the future and compliments (they make me very happy!)